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NUREMBERG, Germany—Courtroom 600 at the Nuremberg Justice Palace is considered world famous, even more so when looked at through a legal perspective. The courtroom was home to the Nuremberg trials, where the International Military Tribunal held prominent members of the Nazi regime responsible for their crimes during WWII
Today, Courtroom 600 is still home to the pursuit of justice: it used to be a working courtroom until the spring of 2020, and is now part of the so-called “Memorium Nuremberg Trials”, a museum dedicated to the historic criminal proceedings of 1945/1946. On Saturday, May 21, 2022, it also served as the location for one event in Nuremberg’s “Long Night of Science”. Packed full of spectators, a team of both German lawyers and American Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG) legal officials put on back-to-back mock trials.
“[Courtroom 600] is really the nexus of JAG Corps history and we have the opportunity to show our system of justice by performing a court martial for our German audience and our host nation,” said Lt. Col Jeremy Steward, the Staff Judge Advocate for 7th Army Training Command. “Hopefully it’s a learning event not only for them but for us because we get to learn a little bit about their system as well, so it goes both directions.”
The German legal officials went first, their mock trial interspersed with breaks for questions from the audience. After another break, the JAG team took to the stand and performed their version. Both group performed twice, which allowed more audience members to ask questions.
At the core of this event, you find the partnership between America and Germany.
“I think the better we understand and the better we communicate, the better both our systems become,” said Steward. “Having an opportunity to be here, in this setting, at this time when there is war on this continent again is particularly profound and impactful.”
Mechthild C. Benkert, the Chief of Host Nation law for 7th Army Training Command, was the liaison for the JAG Corps’ participation in this third iteration of the event and since its debut in 2017.
“We started off with the Germans as the accused, and the Americans, Russians, British and the French as the judges; and today we cooperate with the German judiciary,” said Benkert. “We’ve come a long way since 1945.”
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| Date Taken: | 05.21.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 06.10.2022 06:28 |
| Story ID: | 422558 |
| Location: | NUREMBERG, BAYERN, DE |
| Web Views: | 124 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, "Long Night of Science" '22 Mock Trials Held in Nuremberg, by SPC Destinee Rodriguez, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
